Liverpool’s Legend Jamie Carragher has suggested that the feud between Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah which surfaced at Burnley had been “gathering for months”.
Frustration inside the Reds camp boiled over during a Premier League game at Burnley, with that outing seen as the “trigger” for an emotional outburst
A trip to Turf Moor proved to be more eventful than the Reds had planned.
Though Jurgen Klopp’s side eased their way to a 3-0 win, however Mane’s outburst aimed towards team-mate Salah when substituted in the second half dominated the headlines.
The incident was quickly played down by those inside the Liverpool camp, with emotions considered to always run high in the heat of Premier League battle.
Carragher, believes that frustration may have been simmering for some time.
“The more issues fester, the more you are parking the problem for a later date,” Carragher said in The Telegraph.
“The disagreement earlier this season between Liverpool strikers Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah comes into the same category.
“There is no way Mane lost his head solely because he did not receive a few passes against Burnley. His frustration will have been gathering for months, ensuring it only needed a trigger to bring it into the open.
“Jurgen Klopp is not a manager who allows his players to dwell on any negative issue so I strongly suspect he will have discussed it with both players.
“Ironically, I felt Mane was too unselfish in the Champions League game against Napoli in midweek, trying to pass to Salah when he should have been going alone.
“So long as these disagreements are isolated and issues swiftly resolved they do not cause a problem.
“Where managers do become wary is if cliques form, sides are taken and personalities clash to such an extreme it becomes detrimental to the unity and spirit within the camp.
“The Liverpool managers I worked under would never let that happen.”
Klopp swept the incident under the carpet at the time and both Mane and Salah have sought to see the funny side since.
There appears to be no disruptive rift between the pair, with Liverpool needing both to toe the line and play their part in aiding the collective cause again this season – having claimed a share of the Golden Boot and Champions League winners’ medals in 2018-19.
